Studies on floral character of mango cultivars and hybrids under agroclimatic conditions of Orissa.
Chandra A., Ray D. P., Lenka P. C.
Author Affiliation: Department of Horticulture, OUAT, Bhubaneswar - 3, India.
Orissa Journal of Horticulture 29 : 29-33
Abstract : An experiment was conducted on mango cultivars Alphonso, Kesar, Prava Sankar, Arka Puneet, Amrapalli, Mallika, Ratna and Sindhu in Bhubaneswar (25.5 m above sea level), Orissa, India during October 1999 to evaluate the flowering components for cultivar and hybrid screening. The date of flowering and duration of flowering days varied distinctly in different mango cultivars and hybrids. The length and breadth of the panicle and number of flowering laterals per square metre showed distinct variation in mango cultivars. The flowering laterals per square metre was a major contributor for final plant yield. There was variation in the number of rachis per panicle and flowering distance from subrachis, which may be due to the genetic make-up of the plant and the environmental conditions prevailing in that area. The total number of panicles showed great variation among the mango cultivars ranging from 1236.0 in Kesar to a maximum of 10?377.0 in Mallika followed by Ratna (8555.0). In a panicle, the total number of flowers constitute perfect flowers and male flowers and the number of perfect flowers with abundance of pollen contribute towards the setting of fruits. The number of perfect and male flowers are also varietal characteristics. The results showed that the number of flowers was minimum (102) in Kesar and maximum (2256) in Mallika. The number of male flowers was also maximum (8122) in Mallika and minimum in Kesar (1134). The length and breadth of panicle was also higher in Mallika.